Staples

Staples reported that profit for the quarter ended July 30 rose 36 percent to $176.4 million, compared with $129.8 million in the year-ago period. The quarter included the first weeks of the back-to-school shopping season.

Staples announced the promotion of Christine Putur to chief information officer. In her new role, Putur will have global responsibility for information technology strategy and execution. Putur joined Staples in 1999, and has since held various leadership roles on the company’s e-commerce, technology strategy, program management and U.S. Retail technology teams. She most recently served as senior vice president, information systems, for the company’s North American Delivery businesses.

The usual suspects top this year's National Retail Federation's list of the 100 biggest retailers. But giants like Wal-Mart, Kroger and Target need to be on the lookout for two nontraditional retailers that could threaten their coveted spots.

While Staples has apps across platforms serving customers, the metrics were showing it that getting the m-dot strategy right was critical to the overall marketing strategy for the brand because this was the platform on which the customer was engaging with Staples’ other materials. "A huge number of our emails are opened on mobile," said Brian Tilzer, vice president of e-commerce and business development at Staples. "A large number of searches are coming through mobile. It shocked us."

Office Depot admits it hasn't been taking care of business when it comes to its retail store customers. The big-box retail concept offering thousands of office supply products was no longer working. "Our model was broken," said Kevin Peters, head of the retail division for Boca Raton, Fla.-based Office Depot.

The cross-channel retail industry is at a crossroads. For starters, due to the economic downturn, the past couple of years have been difficult for the retail sector. But that's changing. Retailers are starting to see signs of life and are breathing a sigh of relief. At press time, for example, it was announced that February retail sales increased 0.6 percent over January and 4.2 percent year-over-year, according to the National Retail Federation.

As two out of nearly 50 retailers participating in Click It To Gift It Day, Staples and CHEFS relied on the power of the internet and gift cards to squeeze every dollar possible out of the busy holiday shopping season.

Specialty retailers and department stores are in the spotlight as they report third-quarter earnings results.

The value of Facebook and other social media sites to retailers is greater than previously thought, according to a recent survey conducted by Media Logic, a company recognized for specializing in marketing for a social world. After all, Facebook would be the third most populated country in the world if it were, in fact, a country. Therefore, it makes perfect sense for retailers to be involved with the social media site.

Staples Business Delivery unit is a unified selling channel that combines Staples.com and Staples' catalog business. Its main focus is to serve consumers who want to order office products, supplies and services from their home or business at their 
own convenience.